Swanage St Mark’s Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Following an unsettled period, with many changes of leadership, the school is now led by an effective headteacher, middle leaders and governing body. This has resulted in the school's rapid improvement.

Leaders have supported and challenged teachers to improve their practice across all areas of the curriculum. As a result, teaching is now consistently good and pupils are producing high-quality work across the curriculum. Pupils in all year groups are making good progress.

This is a significant improvement on recent years, where progress was slow and the school did not meet the government's floor standards. Although standards in reading, w...riting and mathematics have improved, fewer pupils are working at a greater depth in writing compared to reading and mathematics. Leaders monitor pupils' progress closely so that extra help can be given quickly to those pupils who may fall behind.

However, the tracking of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is not always sufficiently detailed. St Mark's is a very inclusive school and successfully supports pupils whatever their needs. The number of pupils on roll is growing rapidly.

A high proportion of pupils have SEN and/or disabilities. Behaviour throughout the school is good. The school has effective systems for managing behaviour and pupils know what is expected of them.

The school is an orderly, calm environment. Bullying is rare, and pupils say that when it occurs it is dealt with quickly and effectively. Pupils enter the Reception class with skills and knowledge lower than those typical for their age.

They make good progress and, as a result, are well prepared to start key stage 1.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than most primary schools. This is the first inspection since the school become part of the Saturn Education Trust in 2015.

The headteacher joined the school 18 months ago. The chair and vice-chair of the governing body took up their roles at the start of this academic year. A very large majority of pupils are of White British heritage, with just a few pupils coming from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds.

A much larger proportion of pupils than is found in most schools nationally are eligible for free school meals. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average. The number of pupils joining the school from other schools is high, and the number on roll is increasing rapidly.

The school's most recent section 48 inspection of religious education took place in March 2014. The school did not meet the government's floor standards in 2016 or 2017. The school meets the Department for Education's definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 academic performance results in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

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